Courses for Fall 2015

ARAB

First-Year Arabic

Builds basic listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, introducing the Arabic language in its cultural environment. Six contact hours per week, with an emphasis on grammar and communication, plus written, audio, and video assignments outside of class. This is the first half of a year-long course whose first semester grade is normally a temporary one. Neither semester may be elected independently without special written permission. The final grade at the end of the course work in ARAB 0200 covers the entire year and is recorded as the final grade for both semesters. If course is full, please sign the wait list in Room 205, 195 Angell Street. Enrollment limited to 18.

Second-Year Arabic

Develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at the intermediate level of language proficiency through extensive use of various texts and multimedia. Promotes a better understanding of the Arabic cultural traditions. Six contact hours weekly, plus written, audio, and video assignments outside of class. Prerequisite: ARAB 0200. This is the first half of a year-long course whose first semester grade is normally a temporary one. Neither semester may be elected independently without special written permission. The final grade at the end of the course work in ARAB 0400 covers the entire year and is recorded as the final grade for both semesters. If course is full, please sign the wait list in Room 205, 195 Angell Street.

Third-Year Arabic

Offers comprehensive training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with grammar review as needed. Broadens students' perspective of Arabic culture using selections from the classical and modern traditions of Arabic writing and various art forms. Five contact hours weekly. Prerequisite: ARAB 0400.

Advanced Arabic: Tales of the City

The Arab city, current site of a major political upheaval, is the central theme of this integrated-skill language and culture course. Images of cities, as multifaceted as the people who inhabit them, animate cinema screens and daily news reports, inspire masters of writing, artists, and musicians, arouse political activism. By engaging the complex representation of the urban theme in contemporary discursive and art forms, this course will enhance students' understanding of the dynamics of urban politics and culture in the Middle East, while building a content-specific lexicon and advanced communicative ability. Prerequisite: ARAB 0600, or an equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12.

Love, Revolution and Nostalgia in Modern Arabic Poetry

This course aims to introduce students to the most prominent Arabic poets of the 20th and 21st century. Students will strengthen their language skills while reading and discussing texts by major modern poets from the Middle East and North Africa, including Nizar Qabbani, Darwish and Adonis. Through the works of these poets, they will explore a range of themes from politics and oppression, to love and eroticism, personal freedom and women’s liberation.

Conducted in Modern Standard Arabic; designed for students with advanced language skills. Prerequisite: Four years of Arabic, or by instructor permission.
DPLL LILE

Intermediate Persian Language and Culture

Expands students' proficiency in modern Persian language and culture; develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at the intermediate level through various texts and multimedia. Prerequisite: PRSN 0200.

Advanced Persian Language and Culture I

For students who have completed PRSN 0400 or have acquired language skills above the intermediate level through contact with Persian in other ways. The main goal of this course is to improve speaking, listening, reading and writing skills and promote exposure to the culture. It will enable students to expand their knowledge of the language by studying samples of modern and classical Persian literature in order to advance toward mastery of contemporary literature. The course will motivate students to communicate both in written and spoken Persian by utilizing the adequate grammatical order and correct vocabulary. Prerequisite: PRSN 0400.

SIGN

American Sign Language I, II

Introduces basic ASL conversation. Features core vocabulary, common signing phrases, non-manual components (facial expression, body postures), signing space, fingerspelling, numbers, loan signs, cultural protocols, rules of ASL grammar and structure. Deaf cultural behavior is introduced in the classroom and through readings, videotapes, and Deaf community events. This is the first half of a year-long course whose first semester grade is normally a temporary one. Neither semester may be elected independently without special written permission. The final grade at the end of the course work in SIGN 0200 covers the entire year and is recorded as the final grade for both semesters.

American Sign Language V

Focuses on the use of ASL discourse in formal as well as informal settings. Students will explore and present the advanced ASL genres of public speaking, artistic expression, formal discussion, interview, and narrative projects. Development of ASL vocabulary in specialized area not covered in previous courses. Prerequisite: ASL IV (SIGN 0400) or equivalent.

Independent Study in Sign Language/Deaf Studies

Independent study in an area of special interest to the student, with close guidance by a member of the faculty, and leading to a major paper/project. Required of candidates for honors, and recommended for third year students. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course. Prerequisite: SIGN 0500 or instructor permission. DPLL LILE

HNDI

Beginning Hindi or Urdu

Introduces conversation, reading, and writing of modern standard Hindi and the Devanagari script. Those who already know Devanagari but have rusty conversation skills may join the class second semester; obtain instructor's permission during the first semester. Those who prefer to learn Urdu and the Persian script should contact the instructor.

Intermediate Hindi-Urdu

A continuation of HNDI 0100-0200, which is a prerequisite. Introduces the variation of the Arabic script used for Urdu. Prepares students to communicate in written and spoken language. Activities are conducted in Hindi/Urdu. Meets four hours weekly.

Advanced Hindi-Urdu

Each student follows an independent reading list determined in consultation with the instructor. The readings may include folk tales, journalistic prose, 20th-century literature, classical Urdu poetry of the 17th to 19th centuries, or subjects in nonfiction. The class meets together three hours weekly for discussion. Each student also spends one hour weekly with the instructor. Prerequisite: HNDI 0400.

EINT

Academic Discourse for Internationals

This course develops the English skills of first-year international graduate students who are preparing to be teaching assistants. Students improve their listening comprehension and fluency in conversational interactions typical of academic settings. Areas of spoken English that are addressed include pronunciation, stress patterns, intonation, vocabulary, and structure. Instructor permission required.

Academic Interactions

This course develops the English language skills of first-year international graduate students who are preparing to be teaching assistants. Students improve their fluency and expression of complex ideas in a variety of linguistic situations typical of classroom interactions. Students also increase their control of vocabulary, pronunciation and listening comprehension when communicating with American undergraduates. Instructor permission required.

Negotiating an American Classroom

In this course, international graduate students increase their abilities to communicate accurately and fluently in English with American undergraduates. International students develop their ability to interact, in culturally appropriate ways, in a variety of teaching situations common to an institution of higher education, where they are responsible for expressing and explaining complex information and ideas in English. Instructor permission required.

Speaking Professionally for Internationals

This course develops the English communication skills of international graduate students with an emphasis on intelligibility of speech and clarity of expression in a variety of teaching and professional situations (e.g. presenting material, responding to questions, directing discussions). Students develop increased facility of English in extended discourse when they are the authority in a teaching or other professional context. Instructor permission required.

Advanced Articulation Tutorial

This course is an advanced pronunciation tutorial for international graduate students who have achieved a near-native speaker level of fluency in English, but who require greater precision of English articulations, pronunciation, fluency and/or expression. Instructor permission required.

CROL

Basic Haitian Creole

Fast-paced course for beginners. Course stresses acquisition of skills in speaking and listening comprehension; writing included to a lesser degree. Strong emphasis on cultural as well as linguistic competency. Enrollment limited to 18.

Advanced Intermediate Haitian Creole

Fast-paced course for advanced/intermediate students of Haitian Creole. Designed for those who speak and understand Haitian Creole with some fluency but are seeking ways of perfecting their language skills, overcoming grammatical snags, increasing vocabularity, and mastering the idiomatic use of the language and proverbs. Reading and responding to authentic literature in Haitian Creole will be the focus of the course. Prerequisite: CROL 0200. Enrollment is limited to 18.

Advanced Haitian Creole

Designed for those who wish to develop more advanced level conversational, reading, and writing skills. Students work with a variety of readings (stories, poems, plays), films, interviews, and popular songs that promote in-class discussion and written analysis. Extensive practice in translating from English to Haitian and vice versa, with the aim of developing accuracy, speed, and appropriateness (lexical, grammatical, and cultural). Prerequisite: CROL 0300. Enrollment limited to 20.

TKSH

Introduction to Turkish Language and Culture I

This is a proficiency oriented introductory course to Turkish Language and Culture. It adopts and integrated skills approach and is designed for students with little or no prior knowledge of Turkish. The course combines an emphasis on the development of communicative competences with an understanding of language structures and grammar as well as insights into Modern Turkish society and culture.
The aim is to introduce students to basic linguistic structures and develop the ability to comprehend and produce text, as well as to speak and understand speech, in a variety of contexts and registers. Enrollment limited to 18. DPLL